


connect four; or, four times that Stiles and Peter aren't soulmates, and one time maybe they are

by sinequanon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinequanon/pseuds/sinequanon
Summary: Sometimes, the road to love is long, hard, and complicated. You know, like life.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Sheriff Stilinski & Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 2
Kudos: 171
Collections: Teen Wolf





	connect four; or, four times that Stiles and Peter aren't soulmates, and one time maybe they are

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate tropes are some of my favorites, but I've always wondered about the ones where people get some sort of symbol or writing when they're young that points the way. It's a nice idea, but it ignores the fact that people change. Who you are at eight is vastly different from who you are at eighteen, or twenty-eight, and so on, and that's not even accounting for potentially traumatic experiences. This looks at how Stiles and Peter might find their ways to each other despite all of the crap they go through.
> 
> This is an odd little thing, and I'm curious to know what you think of it. It's definitely not your average soulmate fic, and it follows Stiles and Peter through their most transformative moments of the series: Peter's death; Stiles's sacrifice; Stiles's possession; and the Ghost Riders.

I.

Stiles didn't care what popular culture said; when Peter popped up with his, "You must be Stiles" routine, the only thing the boy in question felt was terror. After all, Derek could only barely be considered an ally, so being caught between two people who could potentially kill him wasn't exactly filling him with happy, romantic-type feelings.

When Peter dated Melissa, it wasn't affection that made Stiles's stomach turn. That was the sinking feeling of dread that prey felt when it suddenly realized that it might be outclassed, and they weren't sure what to do about it.

A chase through the high school? Good for nightmares, bad for _everything else._

That night that Peter took Stiles's wrist and offered him the bite? _Of course,_ Stiles's heart was skipping beats--a monster was about to maul him. And even if Stiles had the fleeting thought that maybe he'd be better as a werewolf--stronger, faster, more useful--it didn't actually mean that he wanted to become one.

Still, he wasn't happy that they killed Peter; he was too much if his father's son for that. Using fire to do it had been particularly vicious. Don't get him wrong--it _had_ to be done (the death part, not the burning), but that didn't mean that Stiles enjoyed it.

And if there was a tiny part of him that mourned what might have been, who would blame him?

II.

People sometimes forget (children in particular) that parents are human, too. 

It is a terrible, horrible lesson that everyone learns eventually, but that Stiles had the unfortunate privilege of learning before he was even out of elementary school. His mom's death ripped a hole in the life that Stiles had always thought he had, and he saw his dad as human for the first time, even if he didn't quite understand what it meant. The next few months were hard for both of them as they tried to rebuild a family of three people into a family of two, and somehow come out stronger for it.

One of the last coherent things his mom ever asked for was a promise that Stiles and his dad would always take care of each other, and it was a promise that Stiles would die before he broke. And so he did, clutching his dad's badge and praying to anything that could hear him that his dad wouldn't leave him behind.

(What was one scar on the heart to his dad's safety? Why did it feel a little weird that Lydia was his anchor?)

It worked; that was the important thing. And later, when Stiles woke up screaming, his dad was there to hold him. And after that, his dad fought for him. And after that, his dad didn't want to leave him alone and then-- 

Stiles wasn't entirely aware when Peter showed back up, but where had the werewolf come from, exactly?

III.

Peter would like to think that even his nephew was not enough of a martyr to get involved with a nogitsune, but he was wrong.

He supposed it made sense, in a way (Stiles was nominally pack, and by far the most clever and useful of the bunch), but he seemed to have forgotten one of the first lessons Peter had ever taught him and his siblings: everyone has a perspective. In this case, everyone was united against the fox demon, but not necessarily _for_ Stiles.

In this, Deaton's balance rendered him useless. Argent's upbringing made him unpredictable. Scott's goodness made him malleable. Only the Sheriff, Peter thought, would unequivocally stand behind his son, every time.

Peter was curious to know how it would all turn out.

He hadn't meant to get involved, but here he was--offering his expertise while the others hovered uselessly in the background. Peter could admit (if only to himself), that staring into Stiles's face while something else looked back was as disconcerting as it was fascinating, and something the werewolf would rather not repeat.

Also disquieting was Stiles's...rebirth into another body. Or perhaps the nogitsune was copied from the original Stiles? It was difficult to tell at first glance, and Peter almost admired the dark kitsune for its deception.

The former alpha stepped back out of the fray even as Stiles marched back in. He couldn't help but scoff--both at the young man's friends, for letting him fight in his condition; and at Stiles, for hurrying back toward the death he'd just managed to escape.

Perhaps it was just as well. If Stiles got himself killed now, it simply meant that he wasn't the person Peter thought he was.

IV.

Peter wasn't sure what force drove him to grab Stiles in the waystation that day, but he was (eventually) glad he did. If he was doomed to ride the storm with anyone, Stiles would be a better choice than most. It's almost fun testing the boundaries of the doors and tunnels, even with the extra baggage following them around. Peter feels slightly bad about the stranger's fate, but it isn't as if the werewolf knowingly sent him to his death, and frankly, better him than either Stiles or Peter.

The continued optimism from his companion was slightly annoying and (in Peter's opinion) not particularly Stiles-like, but it wasn't as if Peter had much to do (other than brood, and he had no wish to emulate his nephew), so he let Stiles be.

Soon enough, he was forced to save Stiles again, and Peter himself made an ill-advised choice to try his luck in the portal. Perhaps all that time locked away and forgotten had driven him insane, after all.

He took the young man's keys and jumped.

He burned. _Again_.

Later, with Malia, he tried to impart upon her the value in saving one's own skin, but his daughter was surprisingly adamant about rescuing Stiles. If it wasn't so frustrating when used against him, he'd say the tenacity came from him; as it was, he assumed it was a byproduct of too much time spent with Stiles.

His daughter's accusation that _Peter_ cared about Stiles were entirely baseless; if the werewolf spent time dismantling Scott's harebrained plan to rescue his friend, it was only because he couldn't abide incompetence.

Everything else was because he had a score to settle with the Ghost Riders.

V.

It was one thing to understand the dangers of law enforcement and to anticipate (or even expect) that one day Stiles would be hurt on the job; Noah was still surprised at just how hard his heart started pounding in his chest when he first got the news that his son had been shot.

Thankfully, the wound wasn't deadly, but Stiles would be coming home while he recovered and, despite the circumstances, the elder Stilinski was looking forward to it.

(Too many nights, he still dreamed of his boy, sitting in a cold, gray train station, waiting for his father to remember him; more than once, Noah had needed to talk himself out of calling Stiles in the early hours of the morning, just to make sure he was there.)

Noah was infinitely grateful that Stiles had gotten out of Beacon Hills, but he was equally as thankful that he was coming home.

Stiles looked drawn and pale when his dad picked him up at the airport, but he was also smiling and joking, and the two of them fell back into their old patterns like they'd never stopped them. By the time they made it home, only Stiles's limited mobility kept him from heading straight to the kitchen to search for forbidden foods. Instead, the two of them settled on the couch and watched movies until they both fell asleep.

Some time later, the Sheriff was roused by a soft knock at the door, and, after carefully extricating himself from his kid's ever-unruly limbs, he went to see which of the pack had managed to find them first.

It was Peter, who--as far as Noah knew--hadn't lived in Beacon Hills for almost as long as his son.

"I heard Stiles nearly got himself killed again, and I thought I'd better check that nothing unsavory had followed him home," the werewolf offered when Noah just stared at him.

There was a groan from the couch, followed by a, "Is that Peter?" and then Stiles was hobbling toward the door like he had been expressly told _not_ to do.

When he got there, though, no one quite seemed to know what to do. Stiles and Peter stared at each other for a few beats longer than should have been comfortable, but just as the Sheriff had decided to intercede, the younger man broke the silence.

"I didn't know that you were living in Beacon Hills." It was not quite a question.

Peter only smirked. "I'm not."

Stiles's eyes narrowed for a moment, but his lips also curled up in the corners as he gestured toward the living room. "Do you want to come in?"

"If I must," the werewolf huffed as he stepped inside, but the Sheriff noticed that he was smiling, too.

And wasn't that something?

**Author's Note:**

> Where Stiles and Peter are in their relationship depends entirely on what you read into the last section. Maybe this was the first time the two of them have spoken in years. Maybe they've run into each other one or twice. Maybe they've run into each other a lot. Reader's choice. But think of it this way: how did Peter know about Stiles's injury, anyway?
> 
> Take care, and thanks for reading!


End file.
